On the plus side, the Latino population is exploding in our region. It’s estimated that there are over 33,000 Latinos in Dane County and that number gets larger every day.
On the minus side, Dane County’s 37-member Board of Supervisors and Madison’s 20-member Common Council have zero Latinos.
Something about those numbers just doesn’t sit well with Julia Arata-Fratta, a native of Argentina who has been an outspoken advocate for Latino causes in Madison for over a decade. “I believe that we need to have more people of color in our local government, especially Latinos,” Arata-Fratta tells Madison365. “And that was one of the many reasons that drew me to the race for Wisconsin State Assembly.”
The current Fitchburg City Common Council member and former president of the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Dane County has recently announced that she will run for Wisconsin State Assembly District 47. The inspiration for her run, she says, came in February, when State Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa introduced her to the Wisconsin State Assembly at the State Capitol.
“I was really inspired by looking at all of the people in the room who were passing bills that would affect our lives and our well-being,” Arata-Fratta remembers. “But then I was also surprised because I didn’t see the any representation from our Latino population. I made the comment to two friends, ‘One day I want to be here.’”
When she heard a rumor that former State Rep. Robb Kahl wasn’t running in her district, people approached her and told her that she would be a great candidate and that she should consider running for his seat. “I thought about it for a while and I said, ‘Why not? I need to do this. What if I don’t and I regret it in a couple of months,'” she remembers.
“I was very frustrated with what [Gov.] Walker was doing with the UW System, public schools, women’s rights, voter ID, and more. There were so many things I was frustrated with,” she adds. “And I see that people are always complaining, but there comes a point where we need to do something about our situation. It’s easy to complain. You see something that’s broken, let’s go and fix it.”
Arata-Fratta held a fundraiser last Thursday at the Great Dane in Fitchburg where she officially announced that she was running for State Assembly District #47. She told the crowd that came to support her: “There are two types of persons — the ones that watch things happen, and the ones that make things happen. I considered myself to be the latter. I am very passionate about the issues that affect my community. I am running because after 12 years of working in our community, we need a voice in the Legislature for those who are too often left behind. And believe me, there are a lot of people left behind in this state.”
Arata-Fratta has always been like that. Her motto, she says, is to be an agent of change and to work to transform the community around her to make it better. “When I see an issue in the community, I gets involved,” she says. She adds that she is running for State Assembly for all of the people who don’t feel like they have representation and that her intent is to bring her diverse voice, opinion, and background to the table.
“It also is important for me to be a role model for the next generation of Latinos or people of color to run,” she says. “People always say, ‘We need the Latino vote” or “we need the black vote.” But, do you know what? We need to be on the ballot, too. And when we have those Latino candidates, the Latino community needs to support them.”
But the barriers for Latinos to run for office, she concedes, can be huge. That has surely contributed to the zero Latinos on the County Board and Common Council.
“It’s too much. The money involved in a campaign is just so much,” Arata-Fratta says. “To run a campaign, it is expensive. You can be an excellent candidate, but you need the money.”
Beyond a lot of money, you need a lot of time. You need to knock on a ton of doors, too. “And if you don’t have a support network, it’s nearly impossible,” she says. “A lot of Latinos don’t have the networks that others do. It’s hard for a minority person to run because it is seen as a white thing. How do you break that barrier? And how do you get white people to vote for you?”
Arata-Fratta has more than 15 years of experience as a business consultant and educator in topics such as administration, non-profit organization, accounting, and taxation for small businesses. She holds an MBA in international business and is currently a supervisory accountant at Wegner CPA. She considers herself an advocate for Latino business progress and advancement. “My strong suit is economic development. This is what I do for a living and this is what I am trained for,” she says.
Arata-Fratta has been a member of Fitchburg Community and Economic Development Authority (CEDA), the board of directors for the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, and the South Central Advisor Team for Wisconsin Women Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC).
A lot of people are familiar with Arata-Fratta from her extensive work in the community. For 8 years, she was president of the Latino Chamber of Commerce, which represents the greater Madison and surrounding cities’ Latino business community. They assist and promote the interests of Latino businesses and community through advocacy and programs that make an overall impact to Dane County’s economic growth. Arata-Fratta is also a founding member of the Latino Professionals Association (LPA) of Greater Madison, an active group that aims to recognize and enhance the lives of Latino professionals through community engagement and professional development.
“When I was with the Latino Chamber, it allowed me to meet a lot of people and to partner and to collaborate,” she says. “With LPA, it was a three-year process when we decided to launch it. I also made great connections there.”
She has the varied experience you would want for somebody who is running for office. As a woman, wife, and mom, she says she wants the residents of McFarland, Monona, Fitchburg, Dunn, and Cottage Grove to know that she will fight every day for social justice and jobs.
“All of these roles that I have had prepare me for this role now,” Arata-Fratta says. “It gave me a strong sense on what was going on in the community and what its needs are. It gave me a vision.
“Having been elected to the [Fitchburg Common] Council has given me a vision on how our government works,” she adds. “It helped me to understand what is needed to pass laws and how to work together to get things done.”
On top of everything else mentioned before, Arata-Fratta sits on the board of directors of United Way of Dane County and Agrace Hospice. She has won the Women of Achievement Award by the Wisconsin Women of Color Network for her “valuable support and continuing commitment to enrich the lives of women of color in the community.” She has also been honored with the Community Leader Award by LA Movida 1480.
“My experience working in the community is a big plus. Not only the diversity that I bring as a Latina and as a woman, but also the diversity of the way I think and do things,” she says. “I am an accountant. I have a business degree. I think it’s good to bring that to the table – my day-to-day experience working with numbers.”
She is a mom of two children who are students in the Madison Metropolitan School District. Her husband is a professor at UW-Madison. “I have experiences as a mother, as a Latina. I think we need to have more people of color in government,” Arata-Fratta says. “I am not doing this for Julia, I’m doing this for all Latinos and people of color. If I win, I can hopefully open the door for more people to jump. Because we need that diversity.”
Her district is pretty Democratic and covers the City of Fitchburg, Monona, McFarland, Town of Madison, Town of Dunn and the west part of Cottage Grove. She already has been hitting the doors and talking to her constituents.
“I have been talking about myself, explaining why I am running, talking about my frustrations with Walker. I’ve been getting great feedback, especially when I talk with women about women’s rights,” she says. “I have the support of [Monona Mayor] Bob Miller, who is the treasurer of my campaign. This has opened the door for me to meet a lot of people in Monona.”
Arata-Fratta is already looking forward to her August 9 primary and feels excited about her chances.
“I’ve always been interested in politics. I have always tried to keep informed on what is going on and read all of the newspapers. I love that you are part of the process of a movement. As an individual, you need to be a part of it,” she says. “For me, politics is a way to be active in the issues that are affecting your life. All the time, people are passing laws that affect your life. To have an opportunity to be a part of that process would be an amazing opportunity.”
